* US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT to defend the principle of a sustained industrial base. EB announced earlier this month that it will lay off 52 people next January. * The FY12 defense authorization bill is...
Eurofighter over Dubai(click to view full) With the 2011 Dubai Airshow in full swing, the biggest question on site is: what's happening to the UAE's planned fighter deal? The United Arab Emirates' interest in up to 60 Dassault Rafale fighters has seen years of...
* The British National Audit Office's 2011 Major Projects report says that short-term cuts spurred by its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has added GBP 500 million (about $785M) to its 15 largest defense projects. The UK MoD responds. * Britain's...
A friend in high places(click to view full) In November 2011, USMC Systems Command issued a pair of contracts for advanced Vehicle Optic Sensor Systems (VOSS). Gyrocam Systems, which was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2009, has traditionally supplied these 15" class...
Latest updates: Happy endings. Mostly. LHD 8 construction(click to view full) USS Makin Island [LHD-8] was built in Pascagoula, MS, as the last ship of America's Wasp Class amphibious assault carriers. The keel was laid in February 2004, but all of the changes from...
* The US Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved (26-0) for a 2nd time the FY12 defense authorization bill, to reflect cuts originating in the Budget Control Act. Summary of the proposed additional cuts. Meanwhile the current continuing resolution expires in 2...
Defender Class RB-S(click to view full) Huge US Coast Guard projects like the frigate-sized National Security Cutters get a lot of attention, but they can only be in so many places at once. Most people who encounter the Coast Guard do so inshore, and their encounter...
* In the latest issue of Joint Aircraft Survivability Program Office (JASPO)'s Aircraft Survivability: a threat model development for Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), a study of how much of a threat their are to the large engines of transport aircraft, and...
Lower Monumental Dam(click to view full) Project Time & Cost, Inc. in Atlanta, GA won a 5-year, firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $150 million. They'll provide "architect-engineering services for nationwide cost engineering" in support of the U.S. Army Corps of...